August 9 coronavirus news

Georgia's health department reported 3,177 new coronavirus cases and 13 new deaths Sunday.

There were also 72 hospitalizations reported by the department.

There are now a total of 216,596 coronavirus cases and 4,199 deaths in Georgia.

South Carolina's heath department has reported an additional 1,011 confirmed cases of coronavirus and an additional 18 confirmed deaths.

The state has reported a total of 99,713 confirmed cases and 1,949 total deaths. 

The state positivity rate is 12.9% according to the health department.

A San Quentin State Prison employee died from Covid-19, California's Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation reported on Sunday.

This is the eighth California prison staff member to die from the virus since the first reported death on May 30, the department reported.

There are currently 1,048 staff members confirmed to have the virus. 

Some more context: As of Saturday, California has 545,787 confirmed coronavirus cases statewide and 10,189 deaths, according to the department of health.

Lebanon has recorded 294 new coronavirus cases and two deaths on Sunday, according to the Ministry of Public Health website. 

The country now has a total of 6,517 cases and a total 76 deaths as it continues to recover from a deadly blast that killed at least 158 people and wounded thousands more last week.

Some context: On Friday, Dr. Friass Abiad, the head of Beirut's Rafik Hariri University Hospital (the main hospital battling Covid-19), told CNN that hospitals are at capacity. 

Abiad commended the country's health sector for how it handled the dual crisis of Covid-19 and the casualties and fallout of Tuesday's deadly explosion that rocked the capital.  

"The ability of the health sector to rise to the occasion during the explosion, and to absorb thousands of casualties, was impressive. But now, hospitals are full, their supplies are almost empty, and the capacity for their staff is depleted. Can they do more?” Abiad tweeted Saturday.

There were 60 bars and restaurants in the New York City area that were issued Covid-19 violations Friday and Saturday, according to a press release from Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office. 

Here's a breakdown of where the violations occurred on Long Island and around the New York City boroughs, according to the governor:

Cuomo also called on the NYPD on Sunday to step-up enforcement of social distancing rules around the city.

The US has reported more than 1,000 deaths from coronavirus daily for the last five days, according to data from Johns Hopkins University's Covid Tracker.

Since July 21, there have been only four days that the US has not reported more than 1,000 deaths.

As of 1 p.m. ET Sunday, 162,635 people with coronavirus have died in the US and 5,017,150 cases have been reported nationwide.

So far, 19,221 new Covid-19 cases and 212 deaths have been reported as of 1 p.m. ET today.

Former Vice President Joe Biden has released a statement reacting to the US surpassing 5 million cases of coronavirus on Sunday. 

Biden encouraged mask-wearing, saying, “I know that for many Americans, especially as the months continue to drag on, there are moments when the losses feel unbearable. But we must not give up. We must follow the science and the advice of medical experts — starting with wearing a mask. That is how we will beat this virus.”

The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee went on to criticize President Trump's leadership in the statement. 

“And yet, we continue to hear little more from President Trump than excuses and lies in an effort to cover for his repeated failures of leadership — failures that worsened the pandemic here at home, and in turn deepened our economic crisis,” Biden said.

More context: CNN reported Sunday morning that are now at least 5,000,603 cases of coronavirus in the United States and at least 162,441 people have died from the virus, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo called President Trump’s executive actions laughable during the state’s daily Covid-19 call. 

These remarks were made after President Trump signed several executive actions, including one that would require states to pay 25% of enhanced unemployment benefits. 

Cuomo went on to say, “there is no funding for schools that are now trying to reopen and according to the white house they want them to reopen, so they need legislation. It’s the only way to do it,” the governor said.

“When you are in a hole, stop digging, “ Cuomo said

e York state has the lowest one day positive infection rate for coronavirus since the start of the pandemic, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Sunday during the state’s Covid-19 call.

New York has an infection rate of 0.78% which is normally around 1% or a little under, the governor said. 

At least 548 people are hospitalized with Covid-19 and seven New Yorkers died from the virus yesterday, the governor said. 

The intensive care unit number is the “lowest number of people we had in ICU units since the start,” Cuomo said.